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Carbon Lasts Over 800 Years In Atmosphere

11 July 2010, 14:03, by Matthew Davis

That’s an interesting report, but like so much of the liberal reform end of the catastrophe reduction school, it assumes much of the bureaucracy, and of political leadership.

In any case, as Karyn Strickler mentions in "State Of Nature" magazine:

"Carbon dioxide levels have risen higher in the past 100 years, than at any other time in the past 800,000 years. Carbon dioxide has a half life of up to 800 years. That means that even if we dramatically cut CO2 emissions tomorrow, what’s already in the atmosphere, will take a LONG time to disappear."

She goes on to quote an environmental scientist at the highly respected Union Of Concerned Scientists, speaking of last years very colourful 350.org’s protests prior to Stockholm:

"Climate Scientist, Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel with the Union for Concerned Scientists said, "Unfortunately, a reduction in CO2 emissions still leads to growth in CO2 in the atmosphere. Only the complete elimination of CO2 emissions would lead to a slow reduction in CO2 in the atmosphere over the next century."

I’m afraid therefore we need more than tinkering at the edges and new corporate state utilities. Even the $100 billion South Korea is spending between 2009 and 2013 will not be good enough to reduce the impact of Global Warming; the amount of already existing carbon in the environment will do that for another century at least.

A recent UN report found that since 1970, Coral Reefs have declined over 30%. The next 40 years, near my life expectancy, I would expect no living coral reefs at all, regardless of when the capitalists kick in a carbon tax.

Only permanent revolution can achieve a whole new type of society where peoples rights are put first, rather than those of the market driven legal corporations. And even then, with pre-Industrial Revolution levels, it will probably be too little too late as far as the worst impacts of the crisis are concerned.